Centre vs Mamata: IMCT caught in the middle of drama; Chief Secretary, MHA exchange fire

The two-member Inter-ministerial Central team (IMCT) ventured out on Tuesday morning in Kolkata, only to take a small round in Ballygunjee and return back to their base. Currently stationed at Border Security Force's Eastern Commands office in the city, the entry and exit routes to the lane that leads to the office saw sudden deployment of Kolkata Police officers who put up rail guards and started their naka checking. However, an hour later, the rail guards were withdrawn and the beefed-up security of Kolkata Police were nowhere to be seen.

The IMCT largely took logistical support from the BSF and SSB instead of the Kolkata Police, something that did not go well with the Bengal authorities, certainly that was put across by Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha in his presser on Monday. Following the briefing, the IMCT team visited Nabanna, the state Secretariat and held a meeting with Sinha.

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MHA writes to CS, alleges obstruction by State

On Tuesday, however, when reports of the central team not being allowed to move out were doing the rounds, the Chief Secretary himself visited the team at the BSF EC office at Ballygunjee. Another turn of events saw a letter sent by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla to Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha asking the state to comply with the MHA order. 

“It has been brought to the notice of this Ministry that both the IMCTs at Kolkata and Jalpaiguri respectively, have not been provided with the requisite co-operation by the State and local authorities. In fact, they have been specifically restrained from making any visits, interacting with health professionals and assessing the ground-level situation. This amounts to obstructing the implementation of the orders issued by the Central government.” stated the letter.

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Could've intimated us before, CS hits back

Sinha, on the other hand, spoke about the state government’s stand. “The Central team held a meeting with us yesterday. We briefed them today also and they wanted to go around Kolkata today. Our government’s stand is, in a set up like this, we would have liked it if we were intimated before they arrived. Chief Minister had written to the Prime Minister on this,''said Sinha, who also noted that as per protocol, the Central team will meet the Chief Secretary first which did not happen. 

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Meanwhile, before the presser started, the central team finally went out with a cavalcade of cars and escorted by a pilot car of Kolkata Police. The team went around major parts of South Kolkata including Gariahat, Santoshpur, Mukundapur and Jadavpur, finally returning back to their office at Ballygunjee.

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